Monday, August 08, 2011

We have the rare chance to make CD recordings with Arkady Gendler this fall. Many of you know Arkady, one of the greatest living treasures of Yiddish song and language, and today in fact one of the last links to pre-war Yiddish culture and tradition.

Over the past ten years, Arkady has written a number of amazingly beautiful new songs. Most of them have not been recorded yet, some have never been performed in public. It is Arkady's wish to still see his original work published, accessible to everyone - he is proudly approaching his 90th birthday this fall.

Several of his songs are dedicated to the places and festivals Arkady visited during the last years, invited to Yiddish and klezmer
festivals. He wrote songs about Kiev, Vienna, Weimar, his home Zaporozhye and the Dniepr Klezmer Cruise. A new song about his hometown Soroca, "Fargest nit Soroke", was never performed in concert, as was "Khaves Tekhter", a song dedicated to his late wife.

Many of us agree that Arkady's own work should be documented now! It would be a wonderful gift to Arkady when we can realize the very first recordings of most of his original songs, and do it in an artistically careful way. A wonderful (and quite prominent) international group of friends, artists and scholars is dedicated to this project already.

But yes, we do need funding urgently! Only the community of Arkady's friends can make this project possible.

If you can help us with a small (or bigger!) pledge, and spread the word to extend Arkady's network in the Jewish cultural world, it would be a very valuable contribution to the realization of this project. And there are many rewards: for a $10 pledge you already receive the recording of a joke, told in Yiddish by Arkady!